Packers give Hawks inside running

Written by: Michael Stevens

Herald Sun

11/12/2003

Hawthorn coach Peter Schwab and the Hawks hierarchy yesterday returned from a fact-finding mission to the United States, equipped with invaluable information they hope will help them gain an edge over their rivals.

The group, which included president Ian Dicker, chief executive Steve Leighton, football manager John Hook and board member Dermott Brereton, had unprecedented access to the NFL's Green Bay Packers.

"We were able to get terrific access to Green Bay because Ian Dicker has a personal friend (Peter Platten) who is on their board," he said.

"It was a lot to do with looking at facilities in the rebuilding of Waverley because Green Bay has gone through a massive $US295 million ($A400 million) redevelopment of their whole stadium during the past four years.

"We can't match the dollars, but it was still worthwhile to see how they'd organised the space downstairs."

Schwab said the feedback would not be worthwhile if it was looked at purely at a dollar level. "If you're also looking at the comparison of the two games (Australian rules versus American football) you also won't get much from it," he said.

"But it's more how they look after the players, how the medical set-up is, what they do in their weights and fitness programs and how the coaches interact with the players.

"We also spoke at length about the way they run their scouting and recruiting because they've still got a draft system, which is similar to what we do.

"It's a little bit different because there is some form of free agency with them, but it was really interesting just to see how they ran their whole recruiting process."

Schwab admitted he was speaking generically so as not to divulge information which might give the Hawks an edge.

"Unless you have a friendship like Ian Dicker has you don't get the sort of access that we got," Schwab said.

"We were really well looked after and even on match day we were allowed into the rooms and down on to the ground to watch the warm-up and preparation."

Green Bay Packers are the only publicly owned sporting franchise in the US, which is made possible because the club owns its own stadium.

The Hawks' leaders watched Green Bay come from 0-14 down in the first quarter to win 34-21 against long-time rivals, the Chicago Bears.

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